In his prime, Matt was one of the strongest paddlers on the Lincoln dragonboat team. Below is the article that showed up in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Upsurge in paddlers is breathing new fire into the ancient Chinese sport of dragon boating
By Vanessa Hua
Matt Chung isn't the biggest, strongest or fastest guy, but he knows what counts in the sport of dragon boating: teamwork.
"You don't have to be 7 feet tall and all muscle. In dragon boat, you need a big heart," said Chung. "You paddle for the 19 other people who you suffered with, paddled with, in the rain and cold."
His will compete against almost 100 youth, adult and company teams and 2, 500 paddlers at the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival Saturday and Sunday on Treasure Island. The event is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente.
The nation's biggest such competition, the festival, now in its 10th year, is moving from Lake Merced to Treasure Island to accommodate more participants in this fast-growing sport.
When Chung, 18 (now 22), started paddling in his sophomore year at Lincoln High, he weighed only 115 pounds and stood 5-foot-5. It was cold out on the water, and he was scared of falling in because he didn't know how to swim (not a requirement because rowers wear life jackets). By his senior year, he was captain of the team. He credits the sport for helping him become much stronger and more confident.
"Every paddler has to be on the same page, with the same goal, or else," said Chung, a Sunset District resident who will attend San Francisco State University this fall.
Dragon boating is an ancient Chinese sport, based on the legend of a scholar who threw himself into a river to protest government corruption. Local fishermen beat their drums and threw in dumplings to distract the water dragons, preventing them from eating him.
Today, the colorful boats feature a dragon's head on the prow and a tail at the stern. They seat 20 paddlers in 10 rows of two. Paddlers face forward, stroking to the beat of a drummer at the stern down the 500-meter course. They push off with their legs and use their backs to pull through the stroke.
There's a position for every body size and every level of skill and strength. The front of the boat is narrow and calls for smaller people with a good sense of cadence and technique. The middle of the boat, known as the engine room, or meat locker, seats the biggest, strongest paddlers, and the rear is for paddlers with good technique, who can handle fast water.
In the Bay Area, the nonprofit California Dragon Boat Association provides the 500-pound boats (which cost $12,000 to $15,000 each) and other equipment used by the teams. In any competition, to ensure fairness, a single organization usually provides all the boats that race.
Many local teams run boats with men and women. To qualify as a "mixed" boat, they must include at least eight female paddlers.
The sport has grown quickly in the Bay Area, said Linda Cheu, the association's president.
The annual competition started a decade ago as a fundraiser for Self-Help for the Elderly, a Chinatown social services organization, intended to involve older and younger generations, said Dorothy Yeung, 59, a physical therapist who has paddled in national and international competitions.
"I started the first women's team, knowing nothing, but I have always been an athlete," Yeung said. "You just have to be fit and persistent."
Chaz Roh, who coaches San Francisco's Community Youth Center team, said that in 2001, it was hard to muster even eight teenagers to practice. Now the team has 90 paddlers and fields up to three boats.
Connie Liu, 16, entered the sport just this year, and already she is the lead paddler on the youth center team racing this weekend.
"I'm excited and nervous, because it's for an international competition," said Liu, who lives in the Sunset District. "I really love dragon boating."
1 comment:
GO MATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Post a Comment